Workers of Colour

By the year 2017 Workers of color will represent one out five Canadians. Workers of colour are considered to be persons of Chinese, South Asian, Black, Filipino, Latin American, Southeast Asian, Arab, West Asian, Japanese and Korean decent.

Canada is a multicultural society and it is due to the diverse and unique cultural traditions of immigrants that we have such a rich country. Despite this fact, many persons of colour are still treated as second class citizens.

Many are seen by the dominant society as being new immigrants despite many having had generations of family born and raised in Canada.

Due to labour shortages in Canada many companies take advantage of new immigrants and foreign workers, most of whom are workers of colour. Many of these workers are highly trained and educated. But regrettably they do not get the recognition they deserve.

Though there is recognition that Canada needs to create a more inclusive society and work environments the fact is that this has not happened. Many areas in which these workers are employed is in the fastest growing sectors of work: contract, temporary, part-time, and shift work and this is where many Workers of Color find employment. In many cases these jobs are under paid and not in the field of work the person has been trained for in another country. What's more disturbing about this is that many companies take advantage of persons of colour and the BCGEU would like to see that change.

The BCGEU will continue to work hard to see the rights of workers of colour advanced in their place of work as well as in society and get the recognition they deserve.